Hurun Report recently issued the Hurun Best of the Best Awards 2012 in Beijing where it gave China Guardian the most popular domestic auction house award for the third consecutrive year. The Hurun Institute has been releasing this report for eight years.
The Hurun Report always insists on studying brand awareness, consumer habits, lifestyle changes and preferences of the Chinese wealthy class since 2005. In order to describe lifestyle changes, the Hurun Best of the Best Awards shows every detail of the brand tendencies of the Chinese wealthy class. The Hurun Institute interviewed 503 people whose personal assets are over 10 million yuan ($1.58m) and then formed the report. In this case, the report was highly authoritative.
In 2011, the China Guardian auction categories included Chinese paintings, calligraphy, oil paintings, sculptures, rare books, rubbings, manuscripts, stamps, coins, bronze mirrors, jadeite, jewelry and watches. There were a total of 29,700 lots sold at the spring auction, autumn auction and four quarterly auctions. The total annual turnover exceeded 10 billion yuan ($1.58b), up to 11.23 billion yuan. Four of the lots broke though the billion mark and 144 lots sold for over 10 million yuan. It hit its highest record of turnover since the company was established. After a total turnover of 7.55 billion yuan in 2010, it increased by 48.7 percent in 2011. Meanwhile, China Guardian maintains a leading position in the painting auction market. Qi Baishi's Eagle Standing on Pine Tree; Four-Character Couplet in Seal Script sold for 425.5 million yuan, making it the highest price paid for a piece of Chinese art in 2011.